Goshen High School: 'Today as we climb'
By Jerry Goldberg
GOSHEN — Some 240 smiles radiated from Goshen's graduates during commencement ceremonies on Saturday, their very last day of high school, and the first in a future fueled by great hopes and dreams.
The boys chose to wear their blue caps unadorned, with traditional tassels hanging to the side. Many of the girls made their white caps festive with sequins, rhinestones, glitter, and stars, and the names of the colleges they'll be heading to at summer's end.
Six honor graduates addressed their class — Mihai Andreca, Nicholas Sullivan, Joan Climes, Hannah Kaplan, Emily Swanson, and Elissa Terach. Joan and Mihai urged their classmates to go forward in life with an outlook on success. Hannah read a poem she'd written, “Today As We Climb,” a moving commentary on what the future may hold.
Nicholas bucked tradition, to the delight of the audience. Wearing mouse ears on his cap, he delivered his message in a long, comedic rap, which elicited peals of laughter and applause from the audience. He had the looks, swagger, and confidence to pull it off.
His addressed was followed up by faculty member Linda Eckert, leading the Varsity Choir and Jazz Voices in an Elton John song, "Circle of Life," from “The Lion King."
Principal Kurtis Kotes said, "This is the finest group of young adults that have walked the halls of Goshen High School."
Superintendent Daniel Connor read out the graduates' names, and school board President James Kimiecik awarded them their diplomas. With that essential piece of paper finally in hand, the graduates tore off their caps, sending them high into the air over the Historic Track. They cheered, laughed, hooted, hollered, hugged, and kissed.
Then came the sonorous strains of Pomp and Circumstance. Faculty members and officials entered the track and took their seats facing the podium. Then the graduates filed in. The one hundred twenty first class to graduate from Goshen High School walked in stately procession, in columns of white and blue, into the future.